Words...

I love this talking thing. It's incredible to watch. And it's hard to keep up. I try to at least keep Eric caught up but pretty much everyday Eric is surprised by a new word Jane knows that he didn't know she knew....
I sent this out in our family weekly email and I thought I'd post it here.

The most recent funny thing happened yesterday (Sunday). You all most likely know how cheesy my husband's sense of humor is which he utilizes when interacting with Jane. One common "game" they play is when getting dressed. Eric delays pulling her hands through her sleeve and says "ahhh! ahhh! where's your hand???" and then pulls it out with relief. Eric was home sick from church yesterday and when he's sick, he's cold so he had on his big sweatshirt and had his hands pulled into his sleeves frequently throughout the day. When Jane would see him, she'd say "ahh! ahh!" and then pull his hands out. Sure cracked us up.

It's also fun to see what words and phrases she picks up and how she interprets them. "Hello" is the cell phone because when do we ever say hello to someone otherwise? It's usually just "hi." When Jane is upset, I have often soothed her with the phrase of understanding "I know." Now when Jane is upset or has to do something she doesn't particularly want to do, she says "I know."

Jane is learning her colors. But in that characteristic way that kids extend the meaning of words, almost all colors almost always start out as "lellow." Just like all kids are Lizzy, but Lizzy is also Lizzy. Anyway, in the past, coloring has been a great quiet activity to do during church. Until yesterday. Jane is so excited about saying the names of colors that with every new crayon she'd pull out, she'd also shout "LELLOW!!" Then I would whisper "use your soft voice, your nice voice" which would result in a less exuberant but still loud "Lellow!" I would try one more time to get her to modulate her voice and usually the third time she'd say it soft. But then, about half the time, she'd get excited about identifying the actual color and shout "Bow" (brown) or "gree" (green) or "reh) (red) or my favorite "puh-pul" (purple, with extra emphasis on the "p" sounds). Yes, reverence fell victim to colors and my toddler's need to identify everything.

Speaking of the letter P, Jane has a few signs that she hasn't given up, like sorry and please. We've been trying to get her to "use her words" and say please. We thought it would help to break down the word into sounds: say "puh, puh" say "lee, lee," etc. Jane got the first lesson only. Now when ask her to say please she says: "puh, puh"
Other cute Jane versions of words are: "dahty" is water, Joey is "dooah." "iwansama" is I want some more which you will hear when she plays "coook!" or cooking with her play dishes. From many blanket rides with Daddy (although Jena started it) "wee" means blanket or ride or fun. She still says many of her s words through her nose, the cutest being "snow" but also the name of own of her friends "sammy" and "smoothy."

In general we are just basking in the joy of watching her grow and learn and we laugh a lot these days (especially now that she's feeling better!! THANK YOU antibiotics!)